Livingston’s administrator has started making redundancies after owner Angelo Massone rejected an offer to sell his shares to prevent liquidation, writes BBC Scotland.
Massone had earlier told BBC Scotland that he did not believe that Donald McGruther would carry out his threat.
But McGruther said: “I am really saddened because obviously the message of the last four or five days has not sunk in. This is the end.
“I am having to dismiss staff, although that does not involve players as yet.”
That would most likely come after Thursday’s meeting between interim manager McGruther, from administrator Mazars, and the Scottish Football League, with the club officially going out of the business later that evening.
The SFL already has a plan in place to re-promote Airdrie United to Division One, with Cowdenbeath moving up to Division Two and Third Division operating with only nine clubs in the coming season because there is not enough time to find a replacement club.
There were angry scenes on Wednesday when Massone arrived at Almondvale Stadium and was confronted by Livingston fans.
McGruther had offered Massone £25,000 for his shareholding saying that this would then allow him to sell the club for a similar amount to investors interested in taking over the club.
“I have the 25 grand to hand here, but Mr Massone is not interested,” said the interim manager.
“Basically, Mr Massone is now talking about introducing money which was not available three weeks ago or I would not be here.
“Frankly, money is not the issue. The supporters will not support the club, the players will not play for it and the local authority that took this decision to put me in are not going to reverse their decision to let Mr Massone or anyone supported by him back into the stadium.”
Massone’s Italian-based consortium bought Livingston last summer from former owner Pearse Flynn for £1.
The Italian businessman has consistently claimed to have invested large sums of his own money to keep the club afloat, but last season Livingston hit the headlines for the late payment of wages and stories of unpaid debts.
And it was landlord West Lothian Council, which is now owed £330,000, that finally took court action to recover its debt.
Massone has held talks with former Cowdenbeath owner Gordon McDougall and former Dumbarton chairman Neil Rankine in recent weeks without an investment or takeover being forthcoming to save the club.
And, just before the deadline passed, Massone told said: “My decision is to continue to work hard for Livingston Football Club and to find a solution.
“Now is the time to try to run the business, not to close the business immediately.”
The club chairman, who said his lawyer had advised him not to accept McGruther’s offer, called on politicians, potential investors and the interim manager to work together with him to save the club.
McGruther had taken action after Mazars concluded that the club was “hopelessly insolvent, without any discernible cash flow, and in need of an immediate cash injection”.
The interim manager said that there were parties interested in investing in Livingston but that they would only do so if Massone was no longer involved.
McDougall last week resigned from the board at Dunfermline Athletic, who said it would leave him free to help their Division One rivals survive, while Rankine told BBC Scotland he will interrupt his holiday and fly back to Scotland for talks with McGruther on Tuesday.
Livingston’s players turned out on Saturday without pay as they lost their Alba Challenge Cup tie away to Queen of the South in the hope that a rescue package could be found.